STAMFORD, Conn.–A new study suggests that U.S. consumers want to see a shift in the credit scoring industry from an industry dominated by one developer to a marketplace characterized by competition and innovation.
The VantageScore Solutions survey of more than 1,000 consumers revealed that the majority of U.S. consumers support newer methods of calculating credit scores and that most Americans also support competition among developers of credit scoring models.
Survey respondents expressed approval for multiple features of modern credit scoring models, including recognition of positive payment histories for rent, utility, and telecomm bills.
Key findings:
- A plurality of the national population (49%) and a slight majority of Millennials (51%) believe that rent payments should be factored into credit scores, rather than consigned to separate specialty scoring models (38% and 40% respectively).
- Across the board, consumers take a positive view toward having multiple credit scores, from different models. In fact, only 4% of U.S. consumers who have been scored by more than one credit scoring model viewed having multiple scores negatively, while over 55% characterized the trend as positive.
The survey also explored the extent to which consumers may be positively impacted by credit scoring models that exclude paid third-party collection accounts. Approximately 5% of Americans report having a paid-off collection account (an estimated 12 million).
“The results of this survey clearly demonstrate that consumers prefer competition in the credit scoring marketplace,” said Barrett Burns, president and CEO of VantageScore Solutions.